Blockchain: A disruption for the banking industry?

by Fleming. Team

One of the important topic focus of this year's Banking Operations Forum is payments. We talked to Roberto García Mora, IT Innovation Manager at Santander, in a pre-event interview about the topic of his presentation – Blockchain.

Blockchain: is it just a
buzzword, or an advance signal of a revolutionary change in payments?

It is more than payments, it is an advance signal of a revolutionary change in
the way the inter-banking model works.

Can you share any issues you
have overcome or any threats that you are currently dealing with when it comes
to blockchain?

Blockchain still has to overcome some technical issues like scalability, and it
needs a development model based on cooperation between banks – they need to
collaborate.

What should customers know
about cryptocurrencies and how should the message be put across?

Fiat cryptocurrencies may help to substitute for paper money, improving the
efficiency and transparency of the economy. While other cryptocurrencies not
backed by a Central bank are just a high-risk investment instrument.

EuropeFinance

13th Annual Banking Operations Forum

Bitcoin is yet another buzzword changing the world of finance. In
one of his speeches,
Jon Matonis, Founder of the Bitcoin Foundation,
summed up the basic benefits of Bitcoin for both consumers and merchants, and
listed its similar characteristics to paper cash. During the presentation, he
made the audience familiar with a controversial quote:

“Bitcoin is to legal tender as BitTorrents are to copyrights.”

- John Matonis

Have a look at some other quotes
about Bitcoin:

"Bitcoin is the most
important invention in the history of the world since the Internet."

Roger Ver

"Every informed person
needs to know about Bitcoin because it might be one of the world's most important
developments."

Leon Louw

"Bitcoin is the
beginning of something great: a currency without a government, something
necessary and imperative."

Nassim Taleb

"I think the fact that
within the bitcoin universe an algorithm replaces the functions of [the government]...
is actually pretty cool."